Free Grk Undercover by Joshua Doder Page A

simply put their arms in the air and surrender. He opened his jacket, showing the pistol in the holster under his arm, then stepped forward and placed his right hand on Max’s shoulder.
    “You’d better come with me,” said the bodyguard in a deep voice. “Colonel Zinfandel is waiting for you.”
    Max didn’t answer. He just kicked the bodyguard between the legs.
    “Oooooooff!” The bodyguard bent forward, his face creased in agony.
    Max pushed the bodyguard aside and ran past. He didn’t look back at Tim or Natascha. He knew they could take care of themselves.
    And he was right. Natascha was already running in the opposite direction. Tim stepped over the writhing bodyguard and sprinted to the end of the corridor. Grk ran alongside him.
    Max had turned left, so Tim turned right. He hurried across the terrace, dodging round tourists, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the bodyguard, hoping he hadn’t been followed.
    He wondered what to do next.
    He was running across the second level of the Eiffel Tower, hundreds of meters above the ground. There was only one way to escape from the men who were chasing him. He had to get off the tower and onto the ground. Then he could disappear into the streets of Paris and shake off his pursuers.
    How should he get down to the ground?
    He had two options. He could take a lift or he could walk down the stairs. The lift would be quicker, but Tim preferred the thought of the stairs. He didn’t like the prospect of finding himself trapped in a small space with Colonel Zinfandel or one of his bodyguards.
    He looked around, searching for the stairs. There! He could see an entrance cut into the floor. He pushed through the crowd. Grk trotted alongside him. They reached the stairs and jogged down.
    A moment later, they were alone on a skinny staircase descending toward the ground.
    The stairs were enclosed by a fence. You couldn’t get through or fall off. You could only go up or down.
    Tim and Grk went down.
    And down.
    And down.
    The only noise was the rattle of their footsteps against the metal stairs.
Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap! Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap! Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap!
    The stairs were mesmerizing. Down and down and down and down and down. Step after step after step after step after step. They seemed to go on forever.
    Every minute or two, Tim and Grk passed other people coming up, holding the handrail and hauling themselves slowly from step to step. Going up was much more difficult than going down. You should have taken the lift, Tim wanted to say, but he didn’t have any spare time to say anything. Nor did he have breath to waste. He just ran past, hoping he wasn’t going to meet any of Colonel Zinfandel’s bodyguards.
    And he didn’t. He must have outsmarted them by choosing the stairs rather than the lifts.
    But if they were guarding the lifts, checking who got in and who got out, wouldn’t they have caught Max and Natascha?
    He couldn’t worry about that. Not now. The others would have to take care of themselves. He just had to concentrate on saving himself. Later, when he reached Notre Dame, he could worry about the others.
    The stairs went on and on.
    Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap!
    Step after step after step after step after step.
    Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap!
    Down and down and down and down and down.
    Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-tap!
    Just as Tim was beginning to think they would never reach the ground, he saw a doorway. It was the exit.
    Tim was exhausted, but he still had a big grin on his face. He looked down at Grk and said, “We’ve done it! We’re free!”
    Grk wagged his tail and gave a joyful bark.
    GRRRFF!
    Together, Tim and Grk jogged down the last few steps and emerged from the Eiffel Tower. They found themselves in the midst of alarge crowd. They had walked straight into one of the lines of people waiting to go up in a lift.
    Tim felt proud of himself. He had escaped. He